Providence Public Library

Staff Book Recommendations -- August 2026

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, for the next edition of Wander in Wednesdays! It's Board Game Night. Children and Teens will have a chance to play some great games and meet new friends.

Celebrate the last weeks of summer with a Storytime with Bruno!
BrownBears.com/Storytime

Slogan shirts are still available!

Do you read banned books? We do too! Show Rhode Island and beyond your support for the right to read.

Read. Think. Decide. These words were originally planned to be etched into the exterior of Providence Public Library. Now you can wear this mantra that supports learning and reflection on a shirt.

Pick yours up at PPL while they last, and reserve yours ahead of time at shop.provlib.org. Every purchase helps support library resources for our community. 📚❤️

Calling all readers! Come join the next meeting of the Book Readers Guide to the Galaxy! On August 24, we will be discussing Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
https://provlib.libcal.com/event/16580162

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, for the next Wander in Wednesdays! Children can enjoy the Mad Science show in the Workshop. Mad Science will demonstrate unusual and fun science experiments! Teens will have the chance to explore collaging in the Teen Loft.

Join PPL on August 15 for another Dave Marchetti's Animal Experiences! Dave and his animal friends will visit the Workshop between 2 - 3 pm for an exciting hands-on learning experience! Meet reptiles, amphibians, and some other small animals up close!

No registration required. Fun for all ages!

Have you viewed our latest exhibition Not Just Tapes yet? Artist Ben Sisto was tipped off to the presence of “many” VHS tapes in the basement of the Hope St. restaurant, Not Just Snacks. Ben visited owner Mohammed Islam and was shown a wall packed with Hindi-language bootlegs. A handshake deal was made, and Ben left with over 600 tapes. Ben shared an image of the tapes on a listserv and was promptly contacted by Sandy Dahari, a video editor who’d just been “shocked back to adolescence.” Sandy recalls, “I was no longer a 37-year-old Providence transplant, but again a Guyanese-American pre-teen intensely perusing titles in a small Indian-owned video store in New Jersey. I would’ve never thought to see these kinds of tapes again, not in 2026.”

Not Just Tapes invites viewers to examine concepts of home and identity in the context of an abstracted living room. Whereas the outside world demands accepting the underlying discomfort in cultural conformity, the living rooms of immigrants are often carefully curated to soothe that discomfort. Grab a tape from the TV console, pull up a chair, and get comfortable. Be kind, rewind.

Not Just Tapes in on view in the 3rd floor gallery during regular Library hours.

Do you like detectives, whodunits, hidden agendas, and twisty plot lines? Join us for the Mystery Book Club and let the adventures begin! On August 19, we will be discussing California Bear by Duane Swierczynski.
https://provlib.libcal.com/event/15933433

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, for the next Wander in Wednesdays! Children and Teens will have the chance to crate with perler beads!